Memories From The Set: Amanda Peet

Amanda Peet's latest project, the under-the-radar Brockmire, is about to give birth to its most politically incorrect episode yet.

On the IFC comedy, the Studio 60 and Togetherness standout plays Jules, the owner of a minor-league baseball team who hires (and subsequently falls for) disgraced MLB announcer Jim Brockmire (played by man-of-a-million-voices Hank Azaria). After revealing to the title character that she was pregnant with his child at the end of Episode 5, Wednesday's half-hour (airing at 10/9c) finds Jules and Brockmire mulling over whether they want to have the child, or whether she should have an abortion.

"It's a really unsentimental look into their decision about whether they want to be, or whether they're even ready to be, parents," Peet says. "In its own very subtle way, it's a very feminist take on the subject." And as viewers will soon discover, it's pretty much the only subtle thing about the episode, which Peet aptly describes as "incredibly bizarre."

After coming to a mutual decision, Jules and Brockmire embark on an unforgettable road trip to Pittsburgh. At one point, Jules is forced to do something that she is uncomfortable with, and, without giving too much away, let's just say it may induce an involuntary spittake.

In addition to Brockmire, we asked Peet to reminisce about some of her other memorable TV roles. Scroll down to see what she has to say about her first primetime gig on — what else?  — Law & Order, as well as her time on The Good Wife, How I Met Your Mother, Togetherness and more.

BENT

"I don't know what happened. I don't know what happened. I don't know what to tell you," Peet utters in quick succession, reflecting on NBC's decision to burn off her well-received 2012 rom-com over three weeks. The cast also included David Walton (About a Boy), J.B. Smoove (Curb Your Enthusiasm), Jesse Plemons  (Friday Night Lights) and Jeffrey Tambor (Transparent). "If I had J.B. Smoove and Jesse Plemons on a show, I'd just let it run until the cows come home. And then Jeffrey Tambor? I just don't know. We didn't even get out of the gate." (Peet and Walton would eventually reunite on Brockmire, but more on that later.)

HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER

Peet was the title character in the Season 5 episode "Jenkins," appearing opposite Gulliver's Travels co-star Jason Segel. And while she was relieved to learn that it was the rare multi-camera sitcom that shot without an audience ("I was doing cartwheels in my hotel room!"), she ultimately remembers that week for the "horrible life moment" that occurred during filming: "My aunt passed away, so they let me go [early]." 

LAW & ORDER

Like many a New York actress, Peet's first primetime gig was Law & Order, where in 1995 she played a Patty Hearst-type who claimed to have been abducted and forced to partake in a deadly crime spree. "I remember feeling a lot of pressure to cry and emote," she tells TVLine, and thus she did (see photo). "I was studying with [Hollywood blacklister] Uta Hagen [who originated the role of Martha in Broadway's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?] at the time, and her telling us that 'nobody wants to cry,'" on camera, "but I didn't care. It's only later in my 40s that I have begun to understand what she was talking about."

SEINFELD

Peet's stage fright was, in her own words, "still horrible, wasn't dealt with, just so horrible" when she snagged the role of Lanette, Jerry's date to the Tonys in the classic episode "The Summer of George." To this day, Peet is still plagued by the same anxiety. "Anytime I do anything that is live, I call Sarah Paulson and say the same thing: I will pay you $1 million if you would just please come here and do this [for me] and have me not be here."

SPIN CITY

Peet is the first to admit to having "horrible stage fright," which is especially unfortunate when you're cast in a sitcom that shoots in front of a live studio audience. "I think I only had three lines, but it was as if I had a three-page soliloquy. That's how badly I was shaking," she says. On the ABC comedy, she portrayed Shelly, a longtime crush of Michael J. Fox's Deputy Mayor Mike Flaherty. "I remember [Michael] being incredibly sweet... I kind of fell in love with [him]. I've been the lead performer on a show and I know how hard it is to be generous to everyone all the time, and he was — without being annoying!"

THE GOOD WIFE

In 2012 and 2013, Peet recurred on the acclaimed CBS drama, on which she got to be directed by series star Josh Charles. "He was incredible, and he's an old friend of mine, so it was really special to be directed by him," she says. As for whether she'd be up for reprising her role as attorney Laura Hellinger on the CBS All Access spinoff The Good Fight? "I wish I could. That would be amazing."

TOGETHERNESS

HBO pulled the plug on this Duplass Brothers dramedy after just two short seasons, but Peet insists that the part of Tina Morris, a wild child-type who never quite grew up, was the greatest role she ever had. "Mark and Jay [Duplass] had enough faith in me to really push me," she says. "Sometimes I was really mad at them, but we had a really special rapport that I haven't felt with anybody else." As such, the cancellation "was heartbreaking — not just because I thought the show was good, but because of my commraderie with Mark and Jay and the other actors," including on-screen sis Melanie Lynskey and love interest Steve Zissis. 

JACK & JILL

Peet and Paulson first became friends on the set of this 1999-2001 WB dramedy, which also marked Peet's first starring role in a TV series. She is the first to admit, however, that she "behaved really badly" on set, and didn't really appreciate the opportunity. "I had gotten the movie The Whole Nine Yards, and so I thought I was too big for my britches," she says. "On the other hand, I met Sarah Paulson and the rest is history. There were times where we couldn't function; we were laughing so hard that we couldn't actually do [our scenes] and the crew was waiting, having shot for 13 hours. We would just have laughing fits unlike anything I have ever experienced."

STUDIO 60 ON THE SUNSET STRIP

The inseparable Peet and Paulson would later play besties on the NBC drama about the goings-on at a Saturday Night Live-esque television show. "I think, scene for scene, that was some of the best writing I ever got," Peet says of her time playing NBS president Jordan McDeere. "My favorite episode was ["The Christmas Show"], where [creator Aaron Sorkin] wrote me this very special moment where Bradley Whitford's character professed his love to me while my mouth was full of food. When they announced that Jordan was pregnant, they just had all of these scenes of me eating. [Laughs]"

BROCKMIRE (cont'd.)

Peet's latest series also reunites her with former co-star Walton, having last worked together on the aforementioned Bent. This time around, he plays enemy No. 1 Gary, a local oil exec attempting to run Jules' minor-league team out of town so his company can drill beneath the local baseball field. His casting was no happy coincidence, as she reveals, but rather a "coordinated effort" that consisted of a bunch of the cast and crew calling and emailing him. "I promised him that my husband [Game of Thrones co-showrunner David Benioff] would come to Atlanta and get drunk with him. [Laughs] That was one of the bargaining chips."

BROCKMIRE

Peet is having a "really good time" working opposite Hank Azaria on the IFC comedy, which is good, since it has already been renewed for Season 2. "He is the most incredible mimic," she says of the frequent voice actor, who is well-known for his work on The Simpsons, "and he has the most incredible sense of humor." The laughs come in handy, especially during 15- to 16-hour shoot days when they're typically filming outside in 100-plus degree Atlanta weather. "When I was falling apart, standing in 102-degree heat, he would always wind up making me smile... Poor Hank was in [Brockmire's] wool jacket the whole time."